Historical Data
- Employment Research Data Center (Upjohn Institute)The Upjohn Institute serves as the data repository for many research and evaluation projects sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor. Data from these projects (along with specific information related to the data) and final reports are offered via download at no charge.
- Social ExplorerOnline research tool designed to provide quick and easy access to modern and historical census data and demographic information. Create fast, intuitive, and illustrative maps and reports to help visually analyze and understand demography and social change throughout history. Site currently includes data from the entire US Census from 1790 to 2000, all annual updates from the American Community Survey to 2008, original Census tract-level estimates for 2006 and 2007, the Religious Congregations and Membership Study from 1980 to 2000, and 2002 Carbon Emissions Data from the Vulcan Project.
- Statistical Abstract of the United States (U.S. Census Bureau)Find a wide range of government-produced statistical tables from 1789-2012. Be sure to look at the tables' footnotes for find the recording agency. After 2013, data published as ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the U.S., listed separately.
- Publications of the U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsFind scanned copies of BLS catalogs that list BLS publications from 1886-1998. Full text of the publications described in the catalogs can be found in U. S. libraries as well as in some historical subscription databases.
Labor Culture
- H-Labor: Arts Discussion NetworkA place for historians, labor activists, and artists to discuss the cultural and artistic artifacts of working people?€; like H-Labor, this is part of the H-Net academic discussion group network, interested non-academics are welcome.
- Labor Heritage FoundationLHF is the focal point for arts and cultural activity for, about, and by labor unions and the labor movement. In addition to sponsoring labor arts exchanges and festivals, this web site offers a Directory of Labor Artists and Musicians, an Inventory of Labor Landmarks, a Calendar of Labor Cultural Events, online songs, and a catalog of CD's, art, videos, books, and other items (some hard to get elsewhere) for purchase.
- Labor-Related Films in the Library of CongressLOC's listing of films in its collection.
- LaborArtsCo-sponsored by the Wagner Archives, Bread and Roses, and the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, this colorful web site exhibits photographs, paintings, buttons, artifacts--in fact, any object--related to the history and current world of workers.
- National Film Board of CanadaAs the site says, "Enjoy documentaries, animations and alternative dramas on the web, on your personalized home page, or on your iPhone. Don't forget to check out our trailers, playlists and upcoming online releases. Free for personal use and on a subscription basis for schools and institutions." This site has "Final Offer," a classic on collective bargaining.
- Union SongsThis searchable site documents union songs and poems. Included are links to songs, articles, recordings, and books.
Labor Archives
- George Meany Memorial AFL-CIO Archive (Univ. of Maryland)The AFL-CIO Archive consists of approximately 40 million documents and other archival material that help researchers better understand pivotal social movements in this country, including those to gain rights for women, children and minorities.
- Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Collection, 1972-1988 (New York Public Libraries)Consists of selected speeches by CBTU's president and co-founder William Lucy, workshop materials and resolutions from its annual conventions, copies of the CBTU Bulletin, and annual reports of its Executive Committee.
- Southern Labor Archives: Strikes Topic GuideA guide to SLA collections relating to the 1972 Mead Wildcat Strike and Atlanta Transportation Strike of 1949.
Digital Labor History
- Bob Fitch Photography Archive (Stanford University Libraries)Includes United Farm Workers (UFW)/Cesar Chavez gallery,1968-1974.
- Bracero History Archive"The Bracero History Archive collects and makes available the oral histories and artifacts pertaining to the Bracero program, a guest worker initiative that spanned the years 1942-1964."
- Child Labor Coalition. History of Child Labor in the US.The history, causes, and results of child labor in the United States are documented in photographs, articles, and testimony by young workers, with study guides and links to other sites.
- CIRL (Community of Industrial Relations Libraries)The Community of Industrial Relations Librarians (formerly the Committee of Industrial Relations Librarians) is an international group of information professionals from academic, union, government, corporate, and nonprofit organizations in the field of industrial relations and human resource management who cooperate on projects, share resources and information, and learn from one another.
- DC Justice for Janitors: A Digital History (Georgetown Univ.)A project of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University that aims to preserve the history of working people in Washington, D.C., and to make that history accessible to scholars, students, and the general public.
- Digital Collections (IRLE Library)This database, originally maintained by UC Berkeley's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, serves as a directory for the complete text of union contracts. Most of these contracts were found on the public Web in a wide variety of file formats. **Please note that this collection is no longer active, and it has been moved to the University of California's eScholarship archive.
- Digital Collections (Library of Congress)The Library of Congress has made available hundreds of photographs, texts, films and audio recordings from its archival collections. There are over 100 digitzied collections, including African American Odyssey, Voices from the Dustbowl, Votes for Women, Work and Leisure, Haymarket Affair" and New York City.
- Documenting the American South (Univ. of North Carolina)DocSouth is a digital publishing project providing Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture. Currently DocSouth includes ten thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.
- Ellis Island Oral History ProjectSince 1973, the National Park Service has interviewed more than 1,700 Ellis Island immigrants so that they could tell their own stories.
- Farmworker Movement Documentation Project (UC San Diego)"Primary source accounts: photographs, oral histories, videos, essays and historical documents from the United Farm Worker Delano Grape Strikers and the UFW Volunteers who worked with Cesar Chavez to build his farmworker movement."
- Hearth, Home Economics ArchiveHEARTH is a core digital collection of historic books and journals in Home Economics and related disciplines published between 1850 and 1950. It includes the full text of these materials, as well as bibliographies and essays on the wide array of subjects.
- History: Labor (U. of Washington)A research guide to primary and secondary sources for labor history.
- Kheel Center (DigitalCollections@ILR)Digitized collections from the Kheel Center, including ILGWU and Milton Konvitz lectures.
- Kheel Center ILGWU CollectionThis site presents highlights from the ILGWU's rich history and archives, from the extensive and heavily used collection at the Kheel Center
- Kheel Center Labor Photo DatabaseLabor photos available from the Kheel Center. Especially strong for needletrade workers.
- Labor Archives in the U.S. and CanadaDirectory prepared by the Labor Archives Roundtable of the Society of American Archivists (SAA).
- Labor History Links (LAWCHA)This site offers one of the most comprehensive collections of bibliographies, documents, and links to other U.S. labor history sites available on the internet. It was developed by labor historian Rosemary Feurer for the Labor and Working Class History Association.
- Labor and Social Justice Collections (University of Maryland)Includes historical records and personal papers related to labor and social justice movements in America from the late 19th century to today, including a large collection of photographs, audio recordings, video, posters, and artifacts.
- Labor & Working-Class History Association (LAWCHA)LAWCHA is an organization of scholars, teachers, students, and activists who seek to promote awareness of labor and working-class history. See the Resources section for links to online oral history projects, exhibits, talks & tours, journals, listservs, conference reports, and the web sites of museums and archives.
- New York State Historical LiteratureCollection of selected monographs, pamphlets and other material with expired copyrights chosen from the Cornell Library's extensive collection of New York State Literature.
- Political Posters from the Labadie Collection (Univ. of Michigan)A digital collection of over 2,000 posters from political movements including labor, anarchism, ecology, women, and youth.
- Southern Labor ArchiveGeorgia State University's Southern Labor Archives, established in 1971, is dedicated to collecting, preserving and making available the documentary heritage of Southern workers and their unions, as well as that of workers and unions having an historic relationship to the region.
- Trade Union Publications: The Official Journals, Convention Proceedings, and Constitutions of International Unions and Federations, 1850-1941Reynolds,Lloyd George and Charles C. Killingsworth (editors). Baltimore, The: Johns Hopkins Press, 1944.
Volume 1 contains a listing of trade unions and their publications. It also contains a brief chronology for the unions listed. Volumes 2 and 3 contain a subject listing to point to individual articles in trade union publications. The time period covered is 1850-1941. - Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (Kheel Center, Cornell ILR School)Presented by the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives in cooperation with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE!). Includes political cartoons, photographs, oral histories, bibliographies and more.
- Walter P. Reuther Library (Wayne State University)This major labor archives has mounted excellent digital exhibits on their web site, including: Brown v. Board of Ed. 50th Anniversary; SEIU District 925: Organizing for Raises, Rights and Respect; I AM A MAN-Honoring the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Worker's Strike; Sit-Down: A Brief History of the Flint Sit-down Strike; La Causa: A United Farm Workers Exhibition.
- WWW Virtual Library: Labour HistoryThe Labour History Virtual Library is maintained by the International Institute of Social History to assist historians and researchers. They have put together an extensive listing of scholarly and content-rich web sites from around the world.
Digital Labor History - Strikes
- 1934 International Longshoremen's Association and General Strikes of San Francisco, 1933-1934 (Online Archive of California)This collection consists of 544 modern prints made from original negatives held by The Bancroft Library. The negatives are part of the photograph archive of the San Francisco News-Call Bulletin newspaper photograph archive (BANC PIC 1959.010) and were taken by staff photographers of the newspaper.
- The Bisbee Deportation of 1917 (Univ. of Arizona)A research-based collection of primary and secondary sources for the study of the deportation of over 1,000 striking miners from Bisbee on 12 July, 1917. Materials include I.W.W. publications, personal recollections, newspaper articles, court records, government reports, correspondence, and journal articles.
- Bunker Hill Labor History Collection (Univ. of Idaho)The Bunker Hill Labor History Collection is 463 letters of correspondence between the mangers and owners of the Bunker Hill Mine & Sullivan M. & C. Co.
- Everett Massacre of 1916 Collection (Univ. of Washington)This collection, documenting labor's perspective of the 1916 Everett Massacre and its aftermath, currently holds 39 articles from the Seattle Union Record as well as 49 other items including pamphlets, fliers, hand- and typewritten works, postcards and a photograph.
- The Flint Sit-Down Strike (Michigan State Univ.)An oral history of the Flint Sit-Down Strike of 1936-37.
- I Am a Man: The Memphis Sanitation Worker Strike (Reuther Library)This exhibit tells the story of the 1968 sanitation workers strike in Memphis, Tennessee.
- Reporting the General Strike: Contemporary Accounts of "The Nine Day Wonder" (Univ. of Warwick)Newspapers, bulletins, reports, transcripts of news broadcasts, and other sources on the British General Strike.
- Strikes! Labor and Labor History in the Puget Sound (Univ. of Washington)This presentation resulted from a collaborative campus-wide project in early 1999 at the University of Washington to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of the Seattle General Strike of 1919 and the 65th anniversary of the Maritime Strikes of 1934.
- The General Strike Collection (London Metropolitan Univ.)The documents, reports, cartoons and photographs shown in this section are a selection taken from the General Strike Collection in the TUC Library Collections held at the London Metropolitan University.
- The Labor Movement and Organizations Image Galleries (Reuther Library)Contains images of strikes by several unions including the UAW, SEIU, AFSCME, Air Line Pilots Association, United Farm Workers, Industrial Workers of the World, CLUW, and the American Federation of Teachers. It also contains a collection of early 20th century strike photos.
- Uprising of '34 Collection (Georgia State Univ.)The Uprising of '34 is a documentary film, released in 1995, that tells the story of the General Textile Strike from the perspective of those who experienced it firsthand. During the film's production, over 300 hours of interviews were conducted with former mill workers, their children and grandchildren, labor organizers, mill owners, and others who experienced or were affected by the strikes. The recorded interviews are held in this collection.